Bollywood's biggest stars ignite the screen! From the dazzling premiere of [mention a recently released film or event] to the brewing controversies surrounding [mention a current entertainment scandal], India's entertainment scene is ablaze. This week saw [mention a significant entertainment event, e.g., a music launch, award ceremony, or box office milestone], further cementing India's position as a global entertainment powerhouse. The battle for box office supremacy heats up as [mention competing films or actors], while the digital realm witnesses the rise of [mention a trending OTT series or online sensation]. Beyond Bollywood, regional cinema continues to flourish, with [mention a noteworthy achievement in regional cinema]. From the vibrant world of music to the captivating realm of television, Abtak.com brings you the pulse of Indian entertainment. Dive in and stay updated on the latest news, reviews, and exclusive interviews—your ultimate destination for all things entertainment. Explore the captivating stories unfolding now!
Madurai: In a major verdict in the 2020 Sathankulam custodial deaths case, Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has sentenced nine Tamil Nadu policemen to death after convicting them of murder and related charges. The court termed the crime "rarest of rare," citing extreme brutality and abuse of power. The judgment came after a six-year trial, with the First Additional District and Sessions Judge convicting all nine accused. The case relates to the deaths of businessman P. Jayaraj and his son J. Bennicks in Thoothukudi district. They were detained June 19, 2020, for allegedly violating COVID-19 lockdown norms by keeping their mobile accessories shop open beyond permitted hours. Investigations found the two were subjected to sustained assault in custody through the night, suffering blunt force trauma and heavy bleeding that led to their deaths. The incident sparked nationwide outrage, prompting a CBI probe. The agency told the court the assault was premeditated and sought maximum punishment, which the court accepted. The convicted include Inspector Sridhar; Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh; and personnel Murugan, Samadurai, Muthuraja, Chelladurai, Thomas Francis and Veilumuthu. A tenth accused, Special Sub-Inspector Pauldurai, died of COVID-19 during the trial. The court said the case involved extreme custodial violence and warranted the death penalty, sending a strong message on accountability in such crimes. According to reports, over 100 witnesses were examined during the trial, which spanned more than five years.
Kolkata, Jan 21 (VOICE) The West Bengal government on Tuesday approached the Calcutta High Court, challenging the special court's verdict sentencing Sanjay Roy, convicted in the rape and murder of a junior doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, to life imprisonment. State Advocate General Kishor Datta has approached the division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi seeking a "death penalty" for the convict. The division bench has admitted the petition from the state government. After the court pronounced the quantum of sentence, Chief Minister Mama ...Read More >
Guwahati, Jun 5 (PTI) The Assam Congress on Thursday demanded a CBI inquiry into alleged illegal stone mining in Karbi Anglong district in violation of a Supreme Court order. Addressing a press conference here, former Rajya Sabha member Ripun Bora also alleged that Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council Chief Executive Member Tuliram Ronghang was allowing illegal activities in the district in nexus with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. "Large-scale illegal stone mining is taking place in the hills of Karbi Anglong in violation of the Supreme Court order. The SC had banned mining in and around K ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jun 6 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday cancelled the bail granted to former Karnataka minister Vinay Kulkarni in connection with a 2016 case related to the murder of BJP worker Yogesh Gowda. A bench of justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order while noting that there was sufficient material on record to suggest that attempts were made by Kulkarni to either contact the witnesses or alternatively, influence them. "Keeping in mind the totality of circumstances, this court is of the considered opinion that the bail granted to the respondent (Kulkarni) ought to ...Read More >
Berhampur (Odisha), Jun 6 (PTI) Environmental activist Medha Patkar on Saturday appealed to the people of Odisha for protection of Rushikulya river. The government planned to construct a dam in the river Pipalapnaka under Sorada block in the district. While participating in the Save Rushikulya river movement in Ganjam district, she said, "Rivers may be small or big, but they are our mother. We have to protect the rivers from attacks." She attended a meeting were organised by the Rushikulya Banchao Kriyaanusthan Committee (RBKC) and the Centre for Climate Justice, spearheading the agitation a ...Read More >
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed charges in court against Canada-based gangster-terrorist Satwinder Singh alias Goldy Brar and four others for orchestrating grenade attacks on two Gurugram clubs in December, the agency announced on Saturday. The December 10, 2024 attacks targeted Warehouse Club and Human Club in Sector 29, with investigators linking the violence to a broader conspiracy by the banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) to spread communal disharmony across Haryana. The chargesheet names Sachin Taliyan, Ankit, Bhawish and US-based Randeep Singh alongside Brar. All ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: Axiom-4 crew members, including Shubhanshu Shukla, were welcomed with hugs and drinks as they stepped into the International Space Station on Thursday. The newly launched spacecraft -- the fifth in the Dragon series and named Grace -- successfully completed a soft docking with the International Space Station at 4.01pm while orbiting above the North Atlantic Ocean."At 6:31 am EDT (4:01 IST) on Thursday, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station for the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4," the National Aeronautics ...Read More >
Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has granted bail to the convict Babu Khan in the Shravan Sahu murder case. The court has granted bail to Babu Khan on the basis of parity of the bail granted to co-accused Ajay Patel on Apr 21, 2025, on the basis of his case being similar.A vacation bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia and Justice Kshitij Shailendra passed the order, allowing the bail plea moved by the appellant Khan along with the appeal . The bench observed, "Considering the reasoning of the coordinate bench in granting bail to co- accused Ajay Patel and adopting the same as conta ...Read More >
Navi Mumbai: The father of a three-day-old girl who was found abandoned in a blue basket outside Navi Mumbai's Panvel wad traced and detained on Sunday, the police said. According to them, the infant's parents were not financially stable enough to raise her. Due to this, the couple decided to give up the baby to an orphanage that could look after her, reported PTI. However, the Navi Mumbai police's crime branch traced the infant's father, Aman Iqbal Kondkar, a resident of Thane's Bhiwandi, within 24 hours, an official said. ...Read More >
Chennai/Sivaganga, Jul 1 (PTI) The opposition in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday mounted pressure on the ruling DMK over the custodial death of a temple security guard in the state's Sivaganga district, demanding a CBI probe into the matter, even as the state government initiated action against policemen, including putting the district police chief on "compulsory wait". Also, a DSP was placed under suspension. The matter also came up before the Madras High Court bench in Madurai, which appointed an Enquiry Officer to look into the issue and submit a report on July 8, while allowing a CB-CID probe into ...Read More >
VISAKHAPATNAM: Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar inaugurated Andhra Pradesh's first Super ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) compliant building at Sagar Nagar in Visakhapatnam on Friday. Terming it a landmark in sustainable infrastructure, he emphasised the government's commitment to energy efficiency and green design in public facilities. The facility will serve as a national-level training hub for power sector staff. He urged power utilities to expedite 20 lakh rooftop solar connections, targeting 10,000 in each Assembly segment. He reaffirmed nine-hour uninterrupted power for agri ...Read More >
Bengaluru Power Cuts: Citizens of Bengaluru brace yourself for long hours of power outages from June 29 and June 30. More than 100 areas will be impacted as BESCOM undertakes its quarterly maintenance work in various of its division. Bengaluru Power Outages June 29: According to the update by BESCOM on its X handler, there will be power outages in Kittaganahalli, Palasandra, Saptagiri, Maruthinagar, Sankapur, Raghavendra Nagar, Goolarivee, Baddihalli, Kesaramadu, C.M Badawan, Kalalli and SKS village on June 29 from 10 am to 5 pm. BESCOM's executive engineer has appealed to consumers to coop ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday extended the term of the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Ravi Agrawal by one year, an official notification said.The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the re-appointment of Agrawal, an IRS officer of the 1988 batch, as CBDT chairman for one year from July 1 this year to June 30, 2026, on contract basis.Agrawal took over as the CBDT chairman from Nitin Gupta in June 2024 after Gupta's extended tenure ended. Agrawal has been a member of CBDT. He was member administration and had served as DG investigation in Delhi. The gover ...Read More >
Guwahati: Meghalaya Police have recovered crucial evidence in Raja Raghuvanshi's murder, including jewelry that belonged to the victim and his wife, Sonam, from Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Meghalaya Police, conducting its probe in Madhya Pradesh, unearthed the jewelry along with Sonam's laptop and a pen drive. The team found the items at the house of the in-laws of Shilom James, an Indore-based property dealer. Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge! Meghalaya police SIT arrested Silom James, who had rented a flat i ...Read More >
The Supreme Court overturned a Madras High Court decision. The high court had refused to dismiss defamation charges against Union minister L Murugan. Murugan faced these charges over statements made in 2020. The Supreme Court accepted Murugan's argument. He said he did not intend to defame the Murasoli Trust. The case is now closed.The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed criminal defamation proceedings against Union minister L Murugan on a complaint filed by the Chennai-based Murasoli Trust for his ...Read More >
Kolkata, Jan 22 (VOICE) West Bengal government's hyperactive approach in seeking the death penalty for the RG Kar case convict is surely politically motivated, the father of the victim woman doctor said on Wednesday. The state government had moved to Calcutta High Court challenging the verdict of a special court in Kolkata on January 22 sentencing Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment and also seeking the death penalty for the sole convict. On Wednesday, the victim's father said that although they also want the death penalty for Roy, they feel that the state government's hurried approach to seekin ...Read More >
Haridwar: A woman politician has been arrested for allegedly letting her boyfriend and others repeatedly rape her 13-year-old daughter in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. The horrifying crime, which occurred between January and March, was exposed when the minor bravely confided in her father, prompting a police investigation that led to the arrest of the accused. The accused was arrested with her boyfriend and one more. According to police reports, the minor was gang-raped multiple times, often in the presence of her mother. The minor, who had been living with her father following her parents' separat ...Read More >
Mumbai, Jun 8 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, instead of introspecting on the defeat in the 2024 state assembly polls, has been repudiating the mandate given by the people because they rejected him. The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha is preparing his excuses for future defeats in the upcoming assembly elections, including Bihar, Fadnavis said in his articles published in the Indian Express and Marathi daily Loksatta. On Saturday, Gandhi, in an article published in several newspapers and in posts on X, claimed the 2024 Maharas ...Read More >
New Delhi, June 28: A 26-year-old man allegedly shot dead his father in north Delhi's Timarpur area after being denied the front seat in a tempo that the family had hired to shift to their native place in Uttarakhand, police sources said on Friday. The accused, identified as Deepak, was arrested from the spot and the gun used in the crime along with 11 live cartridges was recovered, they said. The incident took place around 7.30 pm on Thursday near MS Block, Timarpur, where staff patrolling heard a gunshot and rushed to the spot. Delhi Shocker: 23-Year-Old Woman Dies After Sexual Assault by Ma ...Read More >
Srinagar- Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said foreign countries were told clearly during the post-Operation Sindoor diplomatic outreach that in case of a fresh provocation, India would repeat its action. Speaking at a discussion at the Ahmedabad Management Association, Tharoor said Indian delegations which visited foreign countries in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor managed to convey that India acted with restraint and responsibility. "In other places, we actually were able to get some very high-placed people to say not only that they respected and supported India's right of self- ...Read More >
Stocktwits - The post-mortem report of a 29-year-old temple security guard, who died in Tamil Nadu (NSE:TNNP) police custody, showed he had suffered multiple injuries, including to his head and chest, reports said. "The post-mortem was videographed [as per the Madras high court directions in cases of custodial deaths]. There was contusion in the head and chest," the officer told Hindustan Times, on the condition of anonymity. Opposition party AIADMK on Tuesday, July 1, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI (NSE:CBI)) probe into the custodial death of the security guard in Sivaganga ...Read More >
New Delhi, Dec 17 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Madras High Court's November 20, 2024, order directing a CBI probe into the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, which claimed the lives of 68 people in Tamil Nadu. A bench comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice J. Mahadevan dismissed a special leave petition filed by the ruling DMK government, stating: "Having heard the learned Advocate General appearing for the petitioners and having gone through the materials on record, we see no good reason to interfere with the very well-reasoned judgment of the High Court." The High Court, in it ...Read More >
Thane, Dec 26 (VOICE) A couple has been arrested in connection with the abduction, rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Maharashtra's Thane district. Coming barely after the Badlapur sexual assault on two nursery class girls in August, this is the second case that has sparked outrage with people demanding the noose for the alleged perpetrators - Vishal Gawli, 35 and his wife Sakshi Gawli, 25. Vishal Gawli is accused of kidnapping the girl from near her home, where she was playing on Monday, taking her to his house, assaulting, raping, killing and then dumping her body near a cemetery in ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: Former head of Air India and chairman of the Railway Board Ashwani Lohani is the new Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) director. The official order for his appointment was issued on Wednesday. A 1980-batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME), Lohani is known for turning around various organisations during his illustrious career. Following his retirement from IRSME service, he joined the GMR Group as the CEO. According to the order dated June 4, his appointment to the post of director, Prime Ministers Museum and Library in the rank and pa ...Read More >
DHARMAPURI: For the third time in the past two months, a wild leopard wandered into a private farmland near Valaithottam village near Palacode and hunted chicken raised by a local farmer. Locals are increasingly distressed and urged the forest department to take steps to relocate the leopard. Over the past few months, there have been several reports of leopard sightings in forest areas near Palacode, particularly in Valaithottam village, near the forest's fringe. There have been two instances when the leopard attacked farmlands, taking away a domestic dog and a chicken. On Saturday, the leop ...Read More >
Ludhiana: Three individuals fatally attacked a 65-year-old man with swords at Missing Link-2 near Dhandra Road on Friday night. Police said that the accused deliberately hit his car from behind to force him out. When he alighted, one of the accused held him while the other assaulted him with swords till he died. A passerby filmed the incident, a video of which has gone viral on social media.The deceased, Kuldeep Singh, 65, was a personal assistant to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Jagdev Singh Talw ...Read More >
Kolkata: BJP's fact-finding team leaves after a visit to the premises of a law college where an alleged gang rape of a student took place last week, in Kolkata, Monday, June 30, 2025.Source : PTI The South Calcutta Law College has been shut for an indefinite period following the alleged gang rape of a first-year law student, with college authorities announcing a suspension of all BA LLB and LLM classes, according to a notification issued on Monday. The decision, taken by the college's governing body, comes as a Special Investigation Team (SIT) continues its probe into the incident that has ro ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside the decision of the sentence review board which had rejected a plea for premature release of Santosh Kumar Singh, who is serving life term for the 1996 rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo. Justice Sanjeev Narula said there is an element of reformation in Singh and referred the matter back to the sentence review board (SRB) to consider afresh the convict's premature release plea. "I have found some element of reformation in him. The SRB decision is set aside and I have referred back the matter to SRB to consider ...Read More >
Chennai, Jul 1 (PTI) The opposition AIADMK on Tuesday demanded a CBI probe into the Sivaganga custodial death, saying people had lost faith in the state police. Chief Minister M K Stalin said action has been initiated into the matter, which includes the arrest of five policemen. AIADMK chief and Leader of Opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami slammed Stalin over the incident and said "people and us" don't believe the "drama" enacted by the CM on the matter. Referring to reports, Palaniswami claimed that the post-mortem on the victim, security guard Ajithkumar, revealed a number of injuries on ...Read More >
Chennai, Jul 1 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday ordered transferring to the CBI, the probe into the Sivaganga custodial death of a 29 year-old man that has sent shockwaves across the state. The CM said he was anguished to know that Ajithkumar, picked up for enquiry died under mysterious circumstances in Tiruppuvanam "only because of the assault by the police during interrogation." "This is unjustifiable and cannot be excused," he said in a statement. While initially six policemen were suspended, five were later arrested for murder charge. The district SP has been put on ...Read More >
Guwahati, May 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi launched a scathing attack on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday, citing recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids as "evidence of illegal coal mining operations" in the state, and also issued a clarification on his 'links' in Pakistan. Speaking to the media in Delhi for the first time after becoming the Assam unit chief of Congress, Gogoi pointed to the April 24 raids conducted across Assam and Meghalaya, where the ED reportedly unearthed a coal smuggling network, seizing Rs 1.58 crore in cash, digital devices, and ...Read More >